Not a single other bicycle

I did not see a single other bicycle, not one.

And I only saw two people walking, both walking a dog. There were a few people doing yard work and outdoor construction was still at full throttle. But being outdoors for exercise today was very nearly a private experience. Bicycling today WAS a private experience.

Because it was cold, that's why. According to the TV weather channel it was 41 but it wasn't that in my front yard. There was no sun and there was a strong wind from the northeast.

How was it? It was cold.

That's about the bottom temperature limit for me. I have said that I won't ride when the water in my water bottles will freeze. I could be out there with an ambient air temperature in the 30s but I doubt it would be any colder than it was today.

I was adequately dressed, feeling only a chill on my thighs as I set out. As those big muscles got loosened up they warmed themselves and I was adequately dressed. I had the balaclava on and today on those parts of the ride into the wind I had it for the first time this year pulled up over my mouth and nose, but perhaps most importantly, over my cheekbones.

I didn't expect to get any photos but when I saw this I stopped cold (stopped cold, good one, eh?). It seems a little early to me but I suppose if you are going to put this much effort into your display, you want it out there early to assure that you get your money's worth.It's a little over the top but I like it. I wonder what they do for Christmas. The only other thing I would say is that with a yard display like that they better be giving out full sized candy bars. To do this in the yard and then give out cheap candy would be wrong, IMO.

That yard is in Shoreview and as I neared turnaround I started looking for a spot from which I could display wind and the Shoreview water tower. I had to go a little north of the water tower to do so, looking back over the flag displayed by Deluxe Corp. at the entrance to their check printing facility.I have complained in the past that I ride past the Shoreview water tower a lot and that the light is never quite right for a photograph. Lighting conditions were clearly not an issue today.

Sunny but cold

The predicted high temperature for today was 40. At about 3pm it was 38, but it was sunny and the predicted extremely strong winds had not arrived. Obviously 38 is quite a bit outside my advertised guidelines for when I will ride. But I have the gear, and the possibility of several inches of snow looms for tomorrow. Guidelines were ignored and a bicycle ride ensued.

It eventually actually arrived at 43, which is still outside the guidelines. Here's an impression of riding when everyone is expecting 40: Most of those people out riding last week when it was 65 do not ride when it is 40. I rode three-quarters of today's ride without seeing a single other bicyclist.

Very many times on summer rides I have intended to photograph the Shoreview water tower. I particularly wanted to get a picture of it a couple of years ago when I had that water tower series going. In the summer time I always seem to arrive at the water tower when the sun is in one of two bad spots, either requiring a photo into the sun, difficult to pull off, or casting an unfortunate shadow which affects composition. Today with the leaves off the trees I reached a vantage point which allowed this angle.I photograph water towers because photos of water towers illustrate what I think is an interesting phenomenon related to bicycling in Roseville: every route I ride seems to end up on top of a hill. So that's the answer to the question, "What two things do you find on top of hills in Roseville?" Water towers and Gino.

I rode only a few feet more, literally to the road at the base of the water tower where I was confronted with a contrast shot. Last week I posted this arm of Island Lake completely ice covered. Fairly obviously progress has been made.I think that building across the lake and on the right is 3525 Owasso Street.

As I approached County Cycles on the homeward leg of the ride I was starting to get pretty smug about being the only rider out there. I was climbing up the hill to the stop light at the County Cycles corner and was just realizing that I was going to miss the light when a gang of cyclists coming up the hill from the left timed their climb successfully and swung a left turn to be in front of me and across the intersection, now heading down towards the Roseville VFW.

One of the last of the group called out, "Hi, Gene." It was Scott from County Cycles. I replied, "Hi, Scott." Actually it was nice to see someone I knew but being recognized by another bicyclist and having to respond aloud to said bicyclist is not the story that I had planned.

But actually I still feel pretty smug. It was nice enough to ride, sunny but cold, but okay if you were properly dressed.

Last day in shorts?

It rained this morning but then cleared up nicely. It was plenty dry by the time I got home. It was wavering between sunny and overcast. Yes, that is possible, the sky seemed about half of each. It was windy but it seemed warm enough. I headed out in shorts but with a jacket. I thought that would be a decent compromise for the 66 degree temperature.

A front was passing through and behind it was cold. When I passed the time and temperature clock across from the A&W on Rice Street the temperature read 59. I was not warm enough. I hate being not warm enough.

I came home and laid out the tights.

TOPWLH informed me that I was FOS about the geese. She passed the corn field half an hour after me yesterday and reported hundreds of geese. She said I just had missed feeding time.

Well, I am not privy to goose feeding schedules so I suppose I could be wrong. Here's a picture taken today.So belay those stories of all the corn being gone from the field. The geese are still working on it. By the way, that's the State Fair water tower peeking over the top of the hill.

Hottest day of the year?

The weather page in the local newspaper says today is going to be the hottest day of the year. Well, it occurred to me that last year we got in a couple of pretty nice rides heading out from Yellow Lake Lodge on the two hottest days of the year. The key is getting an early start.

I was in the garage before 7am and on the road shortly thereafter. This is Bellaire Beach on White Bear Lake, 15 miles from home at 8:15.Across the street is a Lutheran church and then two doors up is Aunt Betty's house. I rode by slowly and took a look. Someone is living there but who that might be I have no clue. Perhaps family, perhaps the house has been sold.

I passed some lakes that I do not get to very often so I took pictures. This is Lake Gervais, pronounced "jarvis" for you outlanders. Visible on the far shoreline is the Little Canada water tower.There were lots of fishing boats on the lake.

This is Keller Lake.It looks pretty and calm but that is a bit of an illusion. There are busy highways on two sides of the lake, Highway 36 on the far end and Highway 61 on the right.

And this is Lake Phalen, the jewel of the east side.Home by shortly after 10 and glad of it as it surely is starting to get hot out there.

I passed several other lakes including Owasso, Vadnais and Como, but only submit pictures of lakes which have not previously been featured.

The Tour has started and as I type Discovery Channel's Vladimir Gusev is the leader. The favorites are still to come.

In response to comments my explanation for my selections is that these are riders who I believe are probably not doping. Both Evans and Leipheimer had results last year which, if they were doping, they were not doing so very successfully. Both were strong in some stages but also had stages when they were clearly not strong enough and were unable to hold the leader's pace. As a result neither finished very high in the general classification.

Klöden finished quite high but for me escapes suspicion for now. He has recently adamantly denied doping. In his self defense he points out that since age eleven he has been ranked at the top of the world rankings for his age group. He wasn't doping when he was eleven. He has now reached maturity and is riding at the very top of the sport. His explanation makes sense to me, he has always been one of the best. We should not suspect doping just because he still is capable of riding at the highest level.

And by the way, I don't like Vinokourov for just exactly the opposite reason. Born in the former Soviet Union, sometimes freakishly strong in the mountains, working with the Italian doping doctor, Vino for me raises too many red flags. If he can win with the certain scrutiny that he will be under in this year's Tour I may reconsider. If he cannot win I will believe that my suspicions were correct.

So, once again, Evans, Leipheimer and Klöden.

Ten lake tour

I had my first flat in two years about three weeks ago and I have now had another. I noticed earlier this week that the rear was soft but not flat. I pumped it up and it held well enough to ride. I did that a couple of times and my plan was to baby it along until this afternoon when I thought I would throw on a new set of tires. The mileage was short of what I like to get on a set of tires but tire mileage for me is determined not by what I wish for but by when I start having flats.

I went out this morning to pump the rear again so we could take the eight lake tour. It was not as soft as it has been the last couple of days so I was optimistic. Ooops. I pumped it up and I could hear the air escaping. Best laid plans and all that, we had to delay the ride while I patched a tube.

Then this afternoon I planned to do the new tire thing. I went to the basement to retrieve the tires and tools and discovered that I had a spare used tire that I had forgotten about. When I change a set of tires I always save the less used front tire to be used as a spare if something goes wrong with the new tires. So instead of new tires I put the spare on. The only down side is, as I told TOPWLH, I had blocked out most of the afternoon to complete this task and it only took about 20 minutes. More time to blog.

We rode out towards the eight lakes but deviated again at Highway 96. We continued north to Turtle Lake County Park, an additional 1.2 miles.A careful examination of the photo will reveal a water tower on the other side of the lake.

A controversy erupted at the lake when the model declined to be in the photo. She said she only wanted to be in one and she anticipated that her participation would be necessary for scale later on. I told her that this was certainly her call but that any failure to conform to the norm would be reported later. So there you go, a full report on why the model is not in the Turtle Lake picture.

Including Turtle Lake in the ride slightly alters the route. We travelled back south on Hodgson Road and cut behind the commercial development on the northeast corner of the intersection with Highway 96, left on 96 and on down to Rice Street. We got back on the route there, swinging in at the entrance to Sucker Lake park. Once back on familiar territory the steeds seemed to sense the barn and we completed the tour without much difficulty. I note for clarity that the eight and/or ten lake tour is not always exactly the same lakes. We don't always pass Wabasso, we often pass Emily, we occasionally get to Willow Pond or Lake Johanna, sometimes to Grass, or even once in a while Lake Valentine. Today I believe we counted ten.

I think it safe to say that today, June 30, the corn looks to be a prohibitive favorite to meet or exceed that knee high by the Fourth of July thing.Babe for scale.

Cloudy and cool

Sunset last night. It isn't a picture from today's ride obviously. I had already made the blog entry before sunset last night so it was not possible to get this picture posted yesterday.There isn't any Great Lake visible in the picture. It just goes to show that the sun sets even over the trees here on the prairie.

The weather was a little odd today. The forecast indicated no likelihood of rain and the weather radar seemed clear. And yet there were these dark clouds overhead all day long. The available visible evidence said "rain" but I went out and rode in it and it never ever for even a second felt like it might rain. It felt a little odd.
This picture shows a very representative view of the sky during my ride. No blue visible, only dark ugly clouds. It was also quite cool, only low 70s and cooling.

This water tower is not very far from home but it isn't on the regular routes. I had to ride well off the well beaten path to get the photo. The fairgrounds are located in the municipality of Falcon Heights. I guess this means the whole area is a hill and they can put the water tower pretty much anywhere they want to.

The second day after a rest day proved to be a tonic. I felt really strong today, as strong as any time this year. It occurred to me the other day that I have ridden a lot but this year I have almost never tried to ride fast. Today I tried to ride fast. I attacked the small rises. I rode two gears higher than usual on the downwind sections. It was fun.

The month nears an end and with today's miles I reached one of the major round numbers that I was seeking. This is rewarding especially in light of the fact that it was the 7th day of the month before I made my 3rd ride. With this very slow start it looked all month like I was going to be short of my unofficial goal but it now looks like I will get there after all. That is also fun.

Conditions moderate, bicycling resumes

Nice day, temperature in the 70s, dew point in the 50s, light NW winds. I went for a bicycle ride.

I often say that all of my ride routes seem to lead to the top of a hill. On the top of many hills you find a water tower and it seems to me that I have ridden past the water tower of every municipality within bicyle distance. This one is, duh, Shoreview and I ride past it with great regularity.I spent some time yesterday reading some blogs instead of riding. I found a couple of really good thoughts on Fat Cyclist. The first is about a recurring controversy that seems to separate bicyclists into contentious groups:

"Debates over what kind of cycling is best are totally futile. The best kind of cycling is the kind YOU like best."

I like that. The other is an insight into how hard bicycling sometimes is:

"On big climbs everyone rides alone."

And then I found a really good piece on Belgium Knee Warmers in the June 27 post. The post is about Lance Armstrong and his dedication to his craft. It is nominally about losing weight and I even though I am not trying to lose weight the descriptions of Lance's routine rang a bell with me. I am not trying to lose weight, in fact sometimes I have to work to keep my weight up. But I am living by necessity a very regimented lifestyle. The following is a quotation from the post which could just as well be about my schedule:

"(Lance would)come back from a training ride and skip lunch. As he said, 'I was hungry all the time.'

At first, that sensation is disconcerting. Your body says, 'Something’s wrong. We need calories.' You have difficulty concentrating. But after a few days, there is a familiarity; the diet is just part of the routine."

That part could just as well be me.